This invention relates generally to rolled paper products, such as paper toweling, and more specifically to a cover structure around a roll of paper suitable for dispensing sheets of the paper.
It is desirable in certain situations to have paper rolled products, such as paper toweling or toilet paper, portable and available for convenient dispensing. For example, persons needing to take paper towels with them in an automobile would have use for a portable cover for the paper towel which prevented it from unraveling, yet allowed for convenient dispensing of paper towel sheets. Another example arises with campers' need to bring paper products, such as toilet paper, along with them on a camping trip. It is desirable to have such toweling wrapped in a waterproof or water repellent container, while allowing convenient dispensing thereof. It is preferable to have such container being flexible in order that it may more resiliently withstand the jostles, compaction and general abuse that can be associated with items packed for trips. Furthermore, in certain applications, it is preferable, although not mandatory, that such dispensing cover be provided as inexpensively as possible and without excessive capital investment on the part of roll paper manufacturers.
Several cover products and covering processes have been developed in conjunction with the roll paper products. U.S. Pat. No. 1,255,772 to Miller and U.S. Pat. No. 1,523,297 to Savery each disclose rigid casing containers for dispensing paper towels from a longitudinal slot in the casing. Both of these devices feature detergent container/dispensers disposed centrally in the core of the roll paper. While providing the advantage of a portable towel dispenser, these products are generally rigid in construction and consequently do not offer the soft compressibility useful in packing of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 1,905,561 to Gluck discloses a box for dispensing rolled products, such as wax paper, including a cutting edge for separating sheets of the wax paper. Such box is typically made of cardboard and is relatively stiff. The serrations are useful for cutting paper products which, unlike paper towels and toilet paper, do not have pre-cut sheet sections. U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,026 to Bonk discloses a pre-moistened towelette dispenser. An outer housing holds an inner liner for moisture containment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,870 to Haider discloses a protective sheath for rolled sheet material and a process of manufacture thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,384 to Becker discloses a support sheath of formable material used in the production of sausages.
It is well-known that paper towels are offered by many manufacturers wrapped in clear plastic flexible sheets which are heat fused at the top and bottom ends and along a longitudinal seam. A product registered under the trademark Designer "Bounty", offered by the Procter and Gamble Company of Cincinnati, OH, is one such product and further includes circumferential perforations in the sheet plastic cover about one inch below the top end of the roll. Such perforations aid the user in destructively tearing off the plastic cover from the roll of "Bounty" brand paper. Another product is the Kleenex.RTM. brand Pocket Pack tissues offered by the Kimberley-Clark Corporation of Neena, Wisconsin. This pocket pack is a rectangular package of 15 two-ply facial tissues in which a series of perforations are scored on one face of the rectangular package, with such perforations terminating about one inch from each edge of such face. Individual stacked tissues are removed from the top of the stack through the opening formed when the user tears open the perforations.
Finally, a product marketed as Ruffies.RTM. trash & grass bags by Poly-Tech, Inc., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, includes packaging for dispensing trash and grass bags. Such package includes a partially clear plastic bag having one end that is not heat sealed in which a coreless roll of trash bags is disposed. The end of the container bag that is not heat sealed is cinched closed by a tape wrapped around the container bag. The container bag includes an oblong, oval-shaped tab defined by perforations scored in the container bag. Upon removal of the tab, the trash bags contained in the container bag may be dispensed through the dispenser opening formed by removal of the oval tab. The dispenser opening is about one and a half inches shorter than the width of the rolled trash bags to be dispensed.
While the various devices each address certain problems, none of them provide all the advantages of the present invention. In one embodiment, the present invention is created by scoring a series of perforations longitudinally in a plastic paper towel roll cover generally parallel with the longitudinal core axis of the roll. Such improvement allows for convenient dispensing from the plastic cover without destructive removal of the cover presently experienced by use of the circumferential perforations. Furthermore, this advantage may be realized without major modification to existing manufacturing techniques used in packaging paper towel and/or toilet paper products, providing an improved product without undue expense.
Furthermore, an alternative embodiment of the present invention is a reusable cover having greater durability than conventionally wrapped paper towel cover plastics. However, such device would still preferably be flexible, facilitating its use in "soft luggage" which is popular for travel.